News Roundups
HJ News Roundup
Farmworker News Roundup #7
Written by barb howe Friday, 12 September 2008 20:58
As we mentioned previously, in Florida five brothers pled guilty to enslaving farmworkers. Two of them also plead guilty to beating, threatening, restraining and locking their victims up in trucks in order to force them to work.Did you see Representative George Miller's Labor Day article in the Huffington Post recently? If not, check it out: The Department of Labor: A Damage Assessment.
Also, Whole Foods has signed up with the Coalition of Immokolee Workers (CIW) to increase pay for Florida tomato pickers by a penny per pound. They are the first grocery store chain to do so. This is good, but on the other hand, they are not cooperating with the UFW's campaign to support feedlot workers at one of their meat suppliers.
Corporate giant Ag-Mart's in the news again. In North Carolina, hearings have begun in a pesticide violation case they're involved in.
Another California paper has called for action in response to all the heat-related deaths in the fields (12 so far this year). A wave of editorials like this one in the Oakland Tribune may be just what's needed to spark real effort to increase enforcement of heat-safety laws.
Got news? Let us know! Leave a link in the comments section below:
Farmworker News Roundup #6
Written by barb howe Thursday, 21 August 2008 14:52
Hot, hot, hot: Stories on heat-safety:Wooden shacks, raw sewage, mold infestations, broken windows... scene from 18th century England? 21st century "third world"? Nope. Try Oxnard, California, bordered by large-scale farms, agricultural packing houses and the Pacific Coast Highway. California Rural Legal Assistance is representing a family who lives there. The county has notified the owners of a host of alleged code violations and plans to refer the matter to the District Attorney's Office for criminal investigation and potential prosecution.
Also, here's an interesting bit of trivia. According to that new survey in Washington state, indigenous Central Americans are increasingly filling ranks of U.S. farmworkers. We're already on it. Farmworker Justice ...
More news about the agricultural labor crisis: Farmers in NY fear labor shortage threatens crops.
And finally, if you haven't already seen it, Owen Thompson has a sharp review of the film American Harvest.
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As always feel free to leave links to important news stories on farmworkers' issues in the comments below!
News Roundup #5
Written by barb howe Monday, 11 August 2008 19:23
Allowing another employer to escape responsiblity for the way they treat their workers, a federal appeals court has rejected a key section of a ruling that Florida tomato grower AgMart provided inadequate housing for farmworkers.
The Juliana Mateo Foundation for Disabled Farmworkers is a new foundation in Florida aiming to help farmworkers who have suffered on-the-job injuries. Story in the Bradenton Herald.
New project provides online personal health records for California farmworkers Having access to their personal health records from anywhere is an important step towards greater health care for families constantly on the move such as migrant farmworkers. The project, funded by the state of California, is administered through La Cooperativa Campesina de California, an organization that provides support services to farmworkers.
Farmworker Safety Still Inadequate -editorial in Monterrey Herald by Michael Marsh and Dorothy Johnson of California Rural Legal Assistance.
As always if you have any news items to share, feel free to post them in the comments below!
News Roundup #4
Written by barb howe Tuesday, 05 August 2008 13:07
The New York Times has an editorial this morning about the last minute regulations changes that the Bush Administration's Department of Labor is trying to push through before the next administration comes in. Although they're referring to the DOL proposal to undermine safety rules relating to toxins in the work place, it's the same idea that's behind their proposed changes to the H-2A agricultural guestworker program: reduce policies to protect workers.
Our friends at California Rural Legal Assistance got an Op-Ed published in the LA Times Saturday on the preventable tragedies of heat stress "Despite, (or perhaps because of the weakness of), the heat illness prevention regulation, farmworkers continue to die from heat [related] illnesses." These deaths (and illnesses) are 100% preventable so yay for them for helping to keep this issue in the spotlight this summer.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has published a position paper on the candidates' positions on creating a path to citizenship
The Naples Daily News is reporting the some growers are worried that the EPA's new rules will increase the cost of doing business (not true, the costs have always been there, it's just that the growers have been externalizing those costs onto the environment and workers. For more info see The True Cost of Pesticides).
Agribusiness paper article on the Washington state guestworker program proposal.
Dallas is considering renaming a street in honor of labor leader Cesar Chavez. The proposal is generating lots of controversy.
As always feel free to leave links to interesting farmworker related news items in the comments section below!
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